Winding down

Well only 12 more days of class left until I am done with my undergrad at the University of Utah. I am looking forward to being done. All the classes are starting to wind down and the final things that we have to do before the end of the semester are coming due. Luckily for me there aren't really too many of those things I have to do before the end of the semester. A couple of very short papers, and a few last tests. It is kind of weird to think that it is all coming to an end. I mean, I have been a student at the U since 2000 right after I graduated high school. Sure there was a 2 year break in there while I was in Argentina, but this has been a pretty big state in my life. But at the same time I am glad to have it over with. I am getting tired of taking the classes that I am told I have to take, and not the classes I want to take. I guess all that will change here in August when I start dental school. I am really looking forward to that. I think it is going to be so cool to live back on the east coast for 4 years and get to see new things and places that I haven't ever been to before. I am a little nervous about picking up and moving, but I figure I lived in a 3rd world country for 2 years pretty much on my own, so I think Ashley and I can handle a different part of the United States for a few years. I am already trying to mentally piece together a list of places I want to be sure and visit while we are out there. I just saw a show on the Travel Channel about the top ten best places to get a hot dog. Of course a majority of them were back east, so I will be sure to get a Papaya King and a Nathan's Famous dog if we go visit NYC. Plus, this is the last year that the Yankees will be playing in Yankee stadium, so I better take advantage and get to a game, even thought I don't like the Yankees. Anyway, like I said, it will be cool to live on the east coast for a few years.

Right now my biggest concern is where we are actually going to live. Ashley and I really think we want to buy a house rather than pay rent for the 4 years we are going to be there. We figured that rent for 4 years on a decent yet small apartment would end up costing us about $50,000, and that is just for rent. We would much rather put that money into our own house where we would have more room, and we can decorate however we want to. We are in the process of exploring our options. We both have good credit (I know cause I pulled out free credit reports) so I think we should be able to qualify for a loan, the question is can we actually afford to make the payments? By then Ashley will be working full-time and we should be ok, but it is still not a decision we want to take lightly in anyway. The nice thing is we have some friends there in their 3rd year of school that are really helping us out with figuring things out. They were in our same situation not too long ago, so it is nice to have the help and advice. I will let you all know what happens. Feel free to offer any advice you may have as well. Ashley and I are new to this buying a home thing, so we need all the help we can get.

Speaking of Ashley, she is also doing well. She is about to finish up the last of her student hours that she has to do for her Radiology Tech program. Then she just has to pass of her final comps and then take the boards and she is official. The nice thing is that she can be working while she is doing the final comps, so it's not slave labor anymore. Tennis is also going well for her. I know she just won both her matches this last weekend, and she has been playing well. She won her matches last weekend too as a matter of fact. She has mixed feeling about being done too. She is getting tired and getting ready to be done with it all, but at the same time she is sad to think that this really is the end of her tennis career. I know she will miss playing, but I think it will be good for her too. With all her different injuries that she has had it will be good for her body to rest and heals. Plus, she will still be able to play tennis here and there. I know she has talked about getting on a rec league to play a little here and there. I hope she does, I sure wish there was a rec league for baseball that I could get on. For right now I have been playing indoor soccer with some friends from work. (Yes last time I did that I broke my leg. I am being carefull. I even managed to score 3 goals) Anyway, back to Ashley. Like I said things are winding down for her too. Plus, to my surprise she is actually pretty excited about moving to Philadelphia. I know she will miss her family, and this will be her first time living more than an hours drive from home. But she is excited about getting out to see the east coast. I am sure shw will be home sick, but that will pass with a little time. Our friends that are out there say they have loved being there, and I think Ashley and I both will love it too. We both felt good about our decision to go there, so that is a good sign.

Well that pretty much sums up where we are at right now. Neal is doing well in his mission in Mexico. He just got transfered again, and he is enjoying himself. Hard to believe he will be home in October of this year. The time has gone fast. Dane is also doing well. I am sure all of you reading this will know he is getting married. He just started working for his future father-in-law down in Orem/Provo. He seems to be doing well. I don't see him nearly as much now that we don't work at the same company anymore.

So yeah, things are going well and lfe is good. Hope you all are doing well too. Hope to hear from you via comments. Take care.